This invention relates to the field of games, and specifically to charitable fund raising games of chance for monetary prizes. In particular to a pull tab or break-open ticket game that utilizes a seal card.
Pull tab tickets are well known devices for fund raising as are bingo, Las Vegas nights or church raffles. These games are often used for their entertainment value in a social setting. These games are most often used by church groups, fraternal or social organizations, and youth groups in an effort to raise funds.
Pull tab tickets, also known as break-open cards, are easy to use by both the sponsoring organization and the players. Properly designed and manufactured, quality control can be exercised to provide a consistent result with safeguards against cheating and misuse/abuse. One technique used for prevention against cheating and/or misuse and abuse is to provide a serial number on the ticket face. This serial number would comprise a common set of numbers printed on each ticket for a single game set or deal. Thus, the operator need only to check the serial number of a ticket turned in for receipt of a prize in a certain game to determine if the ticket belonged to that particular game set or deal.
Pull tab tickets provide opportunities for multiple chances by providing multiple windows on a single ticket. Ticket manufacturers customize games for regional play styles, and offer promotional material to enhance player interest. Break-open cards or pull tab games are inexpensive for a game operator to buy. They offer a handsome profit when a set or pack of tickets has been sold to the players and all monetary prizes paid out.
A typical game ticket identifies multiple instant winners through the use of winning combinations of game symbols when the individual ticket windows are opened by the players. The winning symbol combinations are usually predetermined and are advertised in connection with the sales of the tickets, whereby the players are seeking those symbol combinations.
Another play style used in the sale of pull tabs or break-opens is the seal card game. A popular type of seal card game involves a multiple number of players having a series of unique numbers or symbols printed under the break-open windows of their tickets to qualify. These players are entitled to participate in a bonus or advance level of play, a seal card being provided with one of the aforementioned series of unique numbers or symbols printed under a seal which is opened at the conclusion of play to determine the seal winner.
Thus, the purchase of one of these currently available tickets results in one of three possible outcomes: qualification for a seal game, an instant cash prize, or a non-winner.
Due to a lack of security features on the pull tab or break-open ticket, manufacturers or printers have been unable to make a pull tab with BOTH an instant monetary winner AND qualifier for the seal prize. When a pull tab ticket is redeemed for a monetary prize, the operator takes possession of the card from the player, insuring that it is not redeemed fraudulently a second or third time. If the game ticket identifies a qualifier for the seal prize, the player must retain the qualifying ticket until the conclusion of the game and the winner is identified.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,293 to Mullins discloses a lottery game ticket which combines an instant play lottery game ticket on one side of the ticket and a jackpot lottery game ticket on the other side of the ticket. The instant play side of the ticket may be removed from the jackpot side of the ticket so that a prize pay-out may be received if that ticket is a winner. The jackpot lottery side may be retained by the purchaser until a later date when the lottery will be drawn via a selection of randomly drawn numbers. The number of winners for the jackpot lottery would vary depending upon the number of tickets having the matching set of winning numbers. Both sides of the ticket contain a registration number for verification purposes.
The pull tab seal card game of the present invention provides for an enhanced level of play action by providing the player the chance to win both an instant monetary prize and the chance of qualifying for the seal card play through the purchase of a single ticket.